Blank Canvas X
by DrawerElma
Summary: In art, you can always draw over your mistakes, hide them, forget them, and change as an artist. In real life, making mistakes can be fatal, they are always up for display, as long as someone remembers. An extraordinary, yet unsigned painting grabs Kaiba's attention. He'll do anything to find out who was talented enough to make him this curious about art. (Rivalshipping YMxK)
1. Gathering Equipment

It was so sill and peaceful, like a gentle summer breeze. Even if everything was dark, the warmth and silence felt comforting. This left everything open for the imagination, likewise creativity. One could start imagining they were in a completely different place, occupied by some activity they love. Once there was an image, it was easier to determine what that place would feel like. Without much effort, someone could create their own personal space, free from all troubles just by the power of their mind. It was not only enlightening but felt so free.

The only thing that killed the mood was a sharp ring. Any unpleasant sound could jerk anyone up from their daydreaming, and leave them with a nasty headache after a poor night's sleep.

"Kaiba, your little brother Mokuba is on the line. He wants to speak with you."

Kaiba opened his eyes rather halfheartedly, being slightly blinded by the harsh sunlight that came from the car's side window. He groaned inwardly as he got reminded of where he actually was seated, and where he was heading. A horrible meeting, the day before, went terribly wrong. The other person ended up being several hours late, causing them to reschedule and meet up around nighttime. The CEO barely got any sleep due to how long the meeting was, and again, he failed to find the right person to hire for the job. The man driving the car repeated Kaiba's name to make sure he was paying attention. Green eyes darted towards the driver seat, commanding the driver to focus on the road instead of the call. With a sigh, he picked up the phone and was greeted ever so lovingly by his little brother.

"Seto! Did the meeting go well?" He was happy his younger brother was so concerned and willing to show interest in his work, but had to cut the conversation short. In simple words, he asked Mokuba exactly what he wanted.

"Oh! I called because I wanted to know if a friend could-"

"No." Before the younger Kaiba had any time to speak, Kaiba cut him off.

"… Come over to play games with me. Seto, why not?" Kaiba pinched the bridge of his nose. The longer this conversation lasted the worse the outcome would be. He loved his brother dearly, but when he was in a foul mood, nothing would be negotiable.

"I have to code a new layout for one of our sites. I code where you play games, you know I don't like noise when I'm work-" This time, the older brother got cut off. This seemed to be a very strange habit. They knew what the other would say before finishing their sentences. The bond they shared was deep but also very strained. Kaiba would love to spend more time with Mokuba, but the fact they had school and a company to run was taking so much time out of their lives. It was not something Kaiba minded, other than the fact he would like to spend more time with his brother. There was no need for any other people, as long as he had his brother. While Mokuba was explaining his reasoning behind this one friend coming over to their mansion, there was a loud noise that resembled a gunshot heard from outside. It silenced both of them for quite some time.

"Seto?"

"I'll call you back." Without further warning, Kaiba hung up, leaving Mokuba in suspense and fear of what that sound might have been. The tall brunet in the backseat wondered why they slowed down and called the driver who did not seem willing to respond all too happily.

"Sir, it seems we have a flat tire…" He proclaimed and tried to drive aside into a parking lot. Kaiba huffed and leaned against the car door. This slowed them down, but they had a good amount of time to reach the school. All they needed to do was pull up a spare tire.

As the chauffeur got out to change the tire, Kaiba allowed himself to drift away into a mild slumber. All he truly wanted was a good rest. All week was full of failure. Hiring a digital artist never truly appeared as frustrating as now. Pegasus usually hired people who were in charge of designing the new duel Monsters, but they had no luck in contacting any good digital artist that could draw in a different, more vibrant style. The artists they found always colored things bland and emotionless. He frowned and closed his eyes to return to his own world. When you were busy, you had to shut the world out at times to get some privacy. Sadly, such things never lasted long. The moment was gone before it even began.

"Sir, it seems like…we don't have a spare tire. We're stuck." The driver leaned down near Kaiba's window to inform him of this, but the green-eyed teen simply shot him a death glare.

"You're just full of good news today, aren't you?" Kaiba pushed the door open so he could step outside. Taking a cab was out of the question, not with his image. He instructed the other man to call the Kaiba Corp chopper, as there was no way a car would get him to school in time from this distance. It would appear to be a very dramatic entrance but what else could he do? Now that they were stuck, there was no option but to wait. The road to Domino High, the school, was far too long for a simple walk. It would have been easier to walk to school if he slept in his mansion. He ended up falling asleep in his office when he was packing documents and papers. If the phone had not rung this morning, Kaiba would probably have slept through the entire day.

There were a few shops around them as well as a supermarket. Something inside those buildings could perhaps kill the boredom. Kaiba usually did not like to visit small shops. He never needed anything they had. Right now though, it would appear to be the only cure for boredom. He told the chauffeur to call him when the chopper arrived and then walked off to take a look at the different shops. Stores for clothes and other supplies were visible from the outside. Nothing of great interest or importance was in view, so he continued to walk down the street.

Eventually, he stopped in front of a small shop, which did not have any sign in front of it. There was only a paintbrush as a logo. Kaiba assumed that this was some sort of art gallery by the image, or perhaps a shop for artists. In any case, it was better than to browse clothes.

The scent of dry paint tickled his nose almost immediately as he entered. There was a counter right next to the front door, but no one was there. He shrugged and looked around aimlessly. This seemed to be a very weird, small shop.

There were a few stacks of pencils and papers in one corner, along with a shelf full of brushes of all kinds. The room looked very tiny, and it only had two doors. No carpet, barely any light and there was not even someone to keep burglars away. Now that he thought about it, what would a burglar steal in the first place? A pen with some paper?

"Well, what did I expect?" Kaiba rolled his eyes and headed for the second door. He was not sure what to imagine after the first impression. Then again, it was probably more entertaining than spending eternity waiting for a chopper.

His hand took a solid hold of the doorknob before turning it around. As the door was pushed open, a bright light lit everything up. The room inside the shop appeared to be a lot cleaner, also a lot bigger. There were several paintings hanging on the walls and the floor looked polished. The tall teen scanned the ceiling and the walls, as well as the hallway, which seemed to lead to many other directions.

"…Sure as hell didn't expect this." It was a nice change. He had never seen a vast amount of varied art in other places before. Kaiba did not question if he was allowed to be in this room. He figured if the shopkeeper did not bother to keep an eye on his or her own shop, that he had the freedom to do as he pleased. In no way, shape, or form, would it be his fault if the owner would be upset. Someone should have stopped him from entering in the first place, if it was so crucial.

The further he walked, the more the art started to look bland and feeble. Color schemes did not seem to bring these paintings and drawings to life. All drawings were nearly black and white. They also had some sort of angst connected to them. Based of anguish, torment, frustration and utter despair. Such emotions are to be avoided, why try to depict them in art? People usually encounter them on a daily basis. Why not focus on bringing light and happiness with art? Something many strive for and only a few see with their own eyes?

"There's no point for me to walk further into this art gallery. It's all the same crap anyways. Is there no originality anymore?" He folded his arms across his chest and looked around at the paintings next to him. They were all colored very poorly, probably not professional artists works, even someone like Kaiba could pinpoint the tiny errors they had made. However, a little further in, he noticed a painting, which was nearly shimmering with colors. Without hesitation, he headed into that direction to take a closer look at the art piece. To his surprise, the painting was surprisingly well drawn. Something intrigued him though…

"How the-…colors?" Kaiba scanned the painting from top to bottom, something did not seem right. The art was of a wonderful landscape, filled with rich details, wonderful clean brushstrokes and most of all, colors. Red, green, yellow and purple mixed in all sorts of different ways to give the painting a strong emotional meaning, maybe the one of a sunrise or sunset. There was something very peculiar about this though, it was the fact that some orange colors appeared lighter and darker in certain areas, even if it was the same color. The green also appeared as blue in some cases.

"Ah. I assume it's because the colors next to it influence it?" Kaiba reached out to feel the texture of the painting. He was surprised over how smooth the surface felt.

"This person used several layers of paint, yet there are no wrinkles? Hm. At least they know what they're doing." The person who drew this painting obviously had a clue of what art was about, and how it should be handled. Everything looked so very deep and realistic, all from the leaves of the trees, to the grass and branches. As emerald eyes examined the art piece, they shifted to compare it with the rest of the artwork. It looked nothing alike, something that easily stood out in a crowd. The colors alone were well blended and soothing. It was a nice change from all the dull gray art, which only seemed to focus on negativity. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but after his stepfather's horrible actions, he did not want to be reminded of anything remotely similar again.

"…I've been looking for an artist, conveniently enough. Perhaps their teacher could be of help in my project."

"I'll have you know right now that the person who drew this is a self-taught artist." A voice answered him, but his eyes remained focused on the painting. He wondered exactly why he did not hear footsteps. Perhaps the art in this gallery was more than just a minor distraction. It killed the boredom, but left him curious in return.

"I forgive you for entering without asking, but you are known for that, are you not?" The slightly strained, deep voice asked. Kaiba finally turned around to see an old man with big thick glasses, smiling brightly at him. The man was rather short but had a straight posture, despite his age. Kaiba still had no idea of what this place was, maybe some sort of art gallery? Why did they not display any art in the first room?

"Yeah, whatever. Look, can I meet this guy or not? You obviously know whom I am, so let's get down to business. "

"Oh, of course! If you know his name, you may do as you please, I cannot stop you." He chuckled and stayed back, allowing Kaiba to scan the art for a name. The CEO did exactly that, but never found anything. All he could see was an X in the corner of the drawing. It must have been the artist's signature, but this left him clueless of how to contact the person, or even look them up online.

"…Here's a better idea, allow me to buy this painting." This way, the person he would hire would have an example to look at. Their duel disk system, a system for a game called Duel Monsters, was very popular. The problem about it was that something was missing for the experience of dueling to increase. Kaiba wanted to program his duel disks so they could create field spells with different scenery. So, if someone would activate a field spell, the entire field around them would change into an ocean, forest, or alike. This was harder than what it appeared to be. The digital holograms always lose some saturation when they appear in real life. That was why none of the artists he was trying to hire could be fit for the job, since they used very dark and unsaturated colors.

The old man said he had to contact the artist and ask personally, since none of the art here ever sold. Once he revealed the fact he had the artists number, Kaiba tried to get some information out of him. It was useless. The old man was not as senile as he looked. He wrote down his number and handed the note to the tall teen, asking him to call back tomorrow morning for an answer.

Kaiba received a phone call somewhere in the middle of their conversation. The chopper had arrived and he had to hurry back to the car.

"I'll come back tomorrow. Could you ask the artist if we can meet up, while you're already at it?"

"Kaiba. I know you have a lot of riches, I understand you are a busy man, but I can tell you straight away that this artist will not meet up with you."

The supposedly rich teen rolled his eyes in disbelief. "Aha, fine, good, bye." Then left the small shop.

"…Will not meet up with me? Why the hell not?" He took a glance at his wristwatch and rushed over to the parking lot, where the chopper was waiting. The driver said that a team would come to pick him up, so Kaiba was free to leave. Despite the teen's cold nature, he did treat his workers decently. On a bad day though, he could be worse than a throbbing headache that lasted for several hours.

At last, he took off, ready to head towards Domino High. Even a slight delay would be intolerable, likewise unacceptable. The only option left was to pray and hope that the teacher themselves was late for class.

* * *

"Joey, focus." A small child with spiky black hair poked his friend's nose, in order for the other to pay attention. Joey leaned back in his seat lazily and yawned. His blond bangs covered up his eyes and blocked out most of the light in the room. It also annoyed the other teen and made him somewhat agitated. The classroom was half full and almost all students were home, absent. The school lunch had poisoned a lot of people, sadly. Nothing too serious, but half the school had to stay home. Since this event occurred, classrooms have been so much quieter. The students, as well as the teachers, took some more time to prepare themselves for their lessons. This also caused the teachers to be slightly delayed, much like now.

All of a sudden, noises started coming from outside. Joey groaned and sunk deeper into his seat. He knew exactly who it was by that sound. It could only be one man, and one man alone.

"Mr. Big Shot is here with his choppah', again."

"You mean Kaiba?" A girl asked with aquatic, deep blue eyes. She sat on a bench next to them, reading a book with another male.

"Oh! Sup' Anzu! Me and Yug were just playin' Duel Monsters!"

The teen that sat next to Anzu finally spoke up with a light chuckle.

"It's not much of a game if Yuugi is the only one playing."

"OI! Honda! I'm just thinkin'!"

Yuugi sighed and picked up his cards. Joey saw what he was doing and stopped the action. All Yuugi had to do was flip up the two cards he had put down on the trap and spell card zone. There was an "Acid Trap Hole" and "Dark Bribe". Dark bribe negates any spell or trap card activation while Acid trap hole negates any kind of summon. Joey claimed he could have won with his set card "Call Of The Haunted" to bring his monster back. Though, one close look at the "Acid Trap Hole" would show that he would be unable to bring the monster back, since it destroyed the monster. Not to mention the monster would also be banished instead of being sent to the graveyard.

Honda laughed lightly at Joey's expression, as Yuugi explained that he really did not have an escape from his monster army. The blond huffed and sat down, rather annoyed, but not too disappointed. Yuugi was a phenomenal opponent in any game, to win against him and his older brother was nearly impossible.

"Aibou!" A strange look-alike jumped Yuugi from behind and hugged him tightly. The short teen released a high-pitched cry in horror and surprise.

"Y-YAMI!"

"You dork, can you never learn not to play Duel Monsters in class?"

"Hey, at least I'm not doing it _during_ class, unlike others."

"Ow, you hurt my feelings."

"You have feelings, and the capability of feeling hurt?" One single sentence from Anzu could make everyone laugh. Well, not everyone.

"Quit your cackling. This is a classroom, not a henhouse." A cold deep voice replied.

Everyone's eyes focused on the classroom door. Near it was a tall brunet with a suitcase in hand. Only one person would bring a suitcase to school. This was the same person who arrived in a chopper.

Joey was about to defend himself but Yami shook his head and convinced him, with that gesture alone, to drop the comment. The crew did not need to speak at times. They had known each other for so long, that they could read each other's body language. Shortly after this, the teacher sorted the students into groups. Together, they would work on a campaign. Each group was given a topic, then told what media to focus on for the assignment.

Kaiba was working on his laptop the entire time, so he barely paid attention to what the teacher said. He was trying to search for the artist and find his or her name. He valued his own company more than some petty assignment that the rest of the group could work on. Searching for this artist proved to be very difficult, as he had nothing to search on other than the shop's name. Since he did not see the shop's name, he searched for the street it was on, and realized exactly what it was.

It was some sort of small private community, where people would gather and draw together. Once a year, they would hold an exhibit, to show all the paintings created both digitally and traditionally, by the artists in this small group. However, this exhibit had not been held for a while. There was supposed to be one last year, but it got cancelled. On the article, it said that future exhibits might not even occur anymore. The reason for this was left unsaid. This small group held their information very secret. The only way to find out exactly what was going on in there would be to join the group. How could Kaiba do this? He was not an artist. Only artists were able to join, so this left him clueless.

"Wait. They have had exhibits in the past. There must be some pictures of it." He was interrupted in his thoughts quite ungracefully. The teacher slapped his laptop down and told him class was over. He never realized he had wasted the entire class, reading articles that still did not help. The teacher turned around and walked out of the room with her head held high.

"I could fire her for breaking my equipment." The idea made him grin. Teachers needed to respect their students if they wanted respect in return.

Once all students were dismissed, they could run off to do as they pleased. Hours passed quite quickly when you had nothing productive to do in class. The more Kaiba searched for the artist, the more annoyed he got. How hard was it to find an artist in a small group? The people on the featured list were artists who showed their work that night, no artist on that list had the name X. Not even close.

"What does X even stand for? What kind of a messed up name do they have?" The rich teen was currently waiting for his little brother. He was sitting on a bench outside of the school building, while typing on his laptop. Next to him was one of his classmates. That one kid, with the goofy hair, whose name he could not remember. That description alone could include the entire class, as he did not bother to remember people's names. People he would not bother to spend time with or meet up with ever again.

Mokuba was supposed to have left his last class already, what was taking the young Kaiba so long? The air was getting thicker and slightly more uncomfortable as the young teen next to Kaiba leaned closer to look at his screen. The action was not welcomed.

"What are you doing?"

"Are you working on the group assignment?" He asked, somewhat innocently.

"Listen…" Kaiba began to talk, but did not know how to address this individual.

"Yuugi. We've been in the same class since forever, and you still don't know my name?"

"Have I ever talked to you, other than now? I rest my case. I did not need to know your name."

Yuugi blinked a couple of times, before he turned to look in a different direction. He messed with his yellow bangs out of boredom from waiting. Now that Kaiba had a small conversation with the kid, he could not help but to ask something else.

"Who are you waiting for at this hour? Didn't your _friends_ already leave?" A mocking tone was used when he pronounced the word 'friends.' Yuugi noticed this but did not say anything. How could you reply to something like that, which was clearly supposed to be taunting? The lavender-eyed teen did not care for such remarks. He considered them pointless, and unneeded to be addressed. He would have liked to reply, but knew it would only start a dispute, or make Kaiba more irritated than what he seemed to be.

They sat there in silence for another hour or two, without a word. All of a sudden, a beeping sound was heard, coming from Kaiba's laptop. The battery was dying. He folded the screen down and placed the laptop inside his suitcase. Well, now they really were in an awkward situation.

It was easy for Yuugi to sit in silence since he often sat quietly in class, but Kaiba never had time to waste. He always had to do something with his time, so this situation was very outlandish. How could you deal with it? The only way would have to be, to kill the silence. How could you do that without speaking?

"All right, are you annoying me on purpose?" Confusion filled the short teen. He wondered what could cause Kaiba to say such a thing. Of course, for Kaiba, this made some sense. He knew Yuugi's friends were gone very long ago, so why was he still waiting?

"I'm only sitting next to you…" It was a rather difficult reply, as he did not understand if it was a rhetorical question or not. Clearly, he could not know why Kaiba was so negative in the first place.

"Exactly." An evermore-awkward silence lingered, when there was no reply.

"Hey! I'm here now!"

A figure was approaching them in a quick speed with arms wide open, ready for a hug. Kaiba sighed, both in relief and impatience. He got up from his seat and crouched to be at the same eye-level as his little brother. This was also so the young kid could hug his older brother easier, as he obviously could not reach from that height.

"Mokuba, why are you la-" He barely got a word out as Mokuba ran past Kaiba and threw himself in Yuugi's arms, embracing the other in a tight hug. It took some time for Kaiba to register exactly what happened. He got back up on his feet and turned around to face his little brother.

The raven-haired child was talking happily to Yuugi about some sort of game. He eventually pulled up said game from his school bag, and showed it to his brother's classmate. Kaiba's facial expression could not be put into mere words. He was so sure Mokuba ran towards him, and never expected it to be Yuugi.

"Oh, is that disappointment I see in your eyes, Kaiba?" Yuugi chuckled lightly. If anything could change Kaiba's mood, it was that sentence. He was not angry, but annoyed. It was true that he felt slight disappointment since he barely got to see his brother. A hug would have felt nice, though, he would never confess that.

"Oh. Hi, big brother! I didn't notice you. Sorry, I really wanted Yuugi to have a look at the game before we decided to play."

"…Wait-" It took Kaiba less than a second to realize what was going to happen. This was the friend Mokuba was talking about earlier on the phone. How did Mokuba manage to befriend Yuugi? How did they meet? Since when have they known each other? The main question now was, if Kaiba would allow it. He had already wasted so much time sitting around; did he really need to start a conflict? The green-eyed teen sighed heavily and frowned.

"Fine, but if he annoys me, he'll leave the mansion."

"I promise not to sit next to you." Yuugi smiled and took a closer look at the game Mokuba handed him. Kaiba simply rolled his eyes at the comment. He needed to get to work as soon as possible. No more time to waste.

* * *

The night at the mansion ended up being somewhat louder and more talkative than usual, at least over at Kaiba's side of the room. Kaiba was still searching for this unknown artist. The name 'X' never gave him any results. Great, just what he needed. He wondered why he did not expect this earlier. Of course, the 'X' was a fake name.

Though, what sort of artists would hide their own work? Especially, since the work was rather impressive. It did not make sense. Tirelessly, he continued searching, both cameras and their computer system. So much trouble for one single artist, even if this one artist was probably the only one fit for the job.

"Shit, I was supposed to be coding a layout…" Realization struck him as he sighed in irritation. Kaiba decided to finish the layout tomorrow morning. This search needed to continue. Eventually, after an hour or so, he managed to dig up some digital art folders. Their security was easy to break through, but their computers held nothing of great importance, other than the digital art folders. The person who joined the group could be any of the people on the list. What was Kaiba supposed to do? Contact all of them?

He decided to compare the names to the art in the digital folder. That way, he could easily track down who it was, by name alone. Each digital work had a name or stamp on it. He could take the artwork, which matched the name, and cross them off the list. He set this plan into motion, and soon, the list got shorter and shorter. Only one name would remain, and that name would unarguably have to be X's. After a few more minutes he was left with X's drawings, but only one dilemma.

"…There are no more names on the list. All right, this artist just went from super difficult to contact, to super creepy." He felt the urge to flip his desk over. Another hour wasted. If he had not noticed the small writing at the top next to the names, he probably would have unleashed his rage in a disgraceful manner. Inappropriately too, in front of his little brother and Yuugi, who were currently sitting farther away in the room, playing a game on the Wii. The text on the computer said that these were the members of the small group.

"These are the people who are currently members… Maybe X simply left?" Why would an artist leave a group full of other artists? It did not take long for him to realize exactly why X's name was not on the list any longer.

"…They don't draw anymore, do they? Hm… To think I wasted my valuable time for this." However, the old man did say that he would call the artist. The list of numbers must probably be written down by hand, because there was nothing he could find of importance in their computer. He pinched the bridge of his nose and folded his laptop screen down.

Exhaustion. It was fairly late, and his brother was still continuously playing that game with Yuugi, even if they had been very quiet. The tall brunet decided to go and check up on his classmate and brother, only to find them sleeping on the couch in a sitting position.

"Dorks." He scoffed and wrapped his arms around Mokuba. The action woke Yuugi up from his snooze and made him yawn. He looked over at the screen, which was currently paused. Kaiba placed Mokuba down on the second couch next to the exit and walked over to Yuugi.

"I'll drive you home, come on, time to get up." Kaiba did not get to finish his sentence before Yuugi held up Mokuba's console in front of the tall teen. Green eyes pierced through lavender, asking a question without vocals.

"Mokuba will kill me if we don't finish this level. You're a gamer, this will be easy for you."

"What if I refuse?"

"Then you're going to hear a lot of nagging from your younger brother. Trust me, I have an older brother, I know what tactics we use."

"…So now you're threatening me?"

"Not if you have an option, no." Kaiba shrugged, sat next to Yuugi and picked up the console.

"So, on a scale of one to ten, how annoyed are you with me right now?" He said and pointed at their position with a grin.

"Shut up, and play the game."

After some time, the level was cleared, but they still played. For some reason, Yuugi did not say anything when Kaiba automatically continued. Perhaps the CEO needed a break from whatever he was doing, and for that reason, Yuugi played along with him. Halfway through a world of lava, he actually commented on something in the game, and was surprised to see Kaiba reply back, as if they decided to play this together. Lava shot up from the ground and nearly knocked both of their characters over. Yuugi, who was player one, jumped on top of player two to grab an extra life, but managed to knock player two into the lava with this action.

"What did you do that for? You killed me."

"To reach the extra life. Your head acted as a trampoline, it was a necessary sacrifice." Yuugi's voice was tired and strained, he really could use some sleep. It was around midnight after all, his family probably wondered exactly where he was, even if he did say he might visit a friend for a while. A while, turned out to be much longer than expected.

"Not if I lost one. Wasted effort."

"Kind of like when you were working?" The comment came as a surprise.

"…How d-"

"You talk out loud when you work."

They continued making small talk every now and then during the game, but whenever Yuugi tried to make the conversation develop into something deeper, Kaiba stopped him by not replying, or sidetracking. It was difficult to hold a conversation and play the game at the same time. Yuugi felt as if Kaiba did not want to reply, maybe that was partly true, but it was mostly because he was trying to stay focused. For once, also, have fun.

After the vast amount of lava, came water. The graphics were really good, and from an art-like perspective, Kaiba enjoyed the game. Soon, he noticed that player one was nowhere to be found. He walked back with his character to see where Yuugi left off. The short teen's character was simply standing still, not moving.

"Why are-" He took a glance down next to him, where Yuugi was sitting. The short teen was leaning his head against Kaiba's shoulder for support, and seemed to be off in a deep slumber. The tall teen examined the other's face, trying to see if he was actually asleep or pulling off some weird trick. Yuugi's petite hands were holding the controller loosely, as if all energy was drained out of him. His golden bangs covered one half of his face, and his middle bang had curved to the side, following the other long bangs.

Kaiba gently moved his arm away for a bit to feel the surface. It was warm; Yuugi had most likely been sleeping like this for a while. Why he did not simply state that he was tired was a mystery. A normal person would have wanted to quit a long time ago. Was it to not disappoint Mokuba? Could something like that really be of great importance to anyone else but his little brother? The thud from the Wii-remote falling was what woke Kaiba up from his thoughts.

He paused the game and was about to get up from the couch, but something stopped him. Kaiba turned to look towards Yuugi again. He looked so very calm and relaxed. How did it feel to suddenly just doze off while playing a game? Green eyes darted towards the exit, and then quickly back at the TV screen. Never did he think that this couch could appear so very comfortable. He leaned back and pressed 'continue'.

"I won't be able to work tomorrow morning anyway…"

Loafing around was never an option, but this entire day was wasted already. Why not continue and start off better tomorrow morning? Playing games with Mokuba was not an option either. Both of them had too much to take care of at this point. If he could just hire one artist fit for the job, everything would be so much simpler, and maybe then, he'd have some free time.

In less than an hour, he felt his eyes closing and his mind going blank. Figures became blurrier and his eyes began to sting. He knew that he should not leave the game on for the entire night, especially not without pausing it, yet something prevented him from following through with his decisions. It was as if a spell was put in motion, causing him to fall asleep as soon as he closed his eyes. Even if he told himself it would only be for a brief moment, his body's need for sleep was stronger than his will.

So, the two teens fell asleep in the middle of their game, forced to admit defeat to the strongest enemy of all. The night.


	2. Read The Instructions

The power of dreams was intangible. They could be as light as a feather, yet sometimes as deep and full of meaning as the sea. It was almost a completely different dimension, with endless possibilities. Most times, you would wake up before you could grasp what was happening, but at other times, you could be lucky enough to manipulate your own dream. At times, you felt as if you were falling, in other dreams, it was as if you were floating. Sometimes you would not feel anything, but there would always be that vague memory after you wake up. It leaves you wondering exactly what you forgot, and how you could force yourself to remember.

For Kaiba, yesterday was exactly like that, a mere dream. An artist without a name, a friend of Mokuba's ended up playing games with him until they both fell asleep, and he had got little to no work done at all. It was, as Joey would put it, a lazy day, simply for nothing but rest.

Kaiba turned in his sleep and knocked over his own Wii-remote. The thud caused it to blast music way louder than before. The sound was alarming and got him up in no time. He turned towards the TV to look at the blurry images. In the watery mess, he only noticed the watch next to the screen. Eventually, the time was visible, and he could not have cared less. Running to school now was pointless; they had stayed up the whole night and missed out on important information. Kaiba was about to move aside, when he felt the touch of a different object on his arm. Yuugi was still sleeping, even after the noise.

"He's much more bearable when he's silent." Tired green eyes still looked at the sleeping kid next to him, wondering what could make him so drowsy. Kaiba had a meeting some time ago, and barely got any sleep, yet, this woke him up. What hectic lifestyle could this person live that caused them to gain such a great fatigue. While he was observing the sleeping figure, he changed his view and focused on the hair instead. Spiky and messy, the bangs looked very solid, despite the fact it was supposed to be hair. Curiously, without thinking, he placed Yuugi's middle bang in his hand and tried to detect exactly if it was hair or not. It definitely was, and it was smoother than what it would appear to be. It was not solid either, it was silky, but the light color made it look spikier in contrast to the black. He ran his fingers through the hair as well, mainly because it felt so very strange, and because he never thought he would find someone with the same weird haircut. Why not observe it while one can? Curiosity killed the cat.

"Uh, Seto, what are you doing?" The tall teen immediately stopped his actions and turned towards the other couch where the younger Kaiba was sitting, rubbing his eyes tiresomely. He pulled himself up from the couch and cleared his throat; hopefully Mokuba did not notice anything from that angle.

"Oh hey! Did you sit down and play the game without us?" The black haired child pointed at the Wii consoles and the gaming screen, which was showing a completely different area than before. It was as if Mokuba's older brother was caught doing something he should not do, for he attempted to make an excuse.  
"No. I was- I don't have to explain myself. You shouldn't stay up that late to play games anyways. I'm going to the library."

To avoid answering the question, he walked out, with his laptop in hand. As soon as Kaiba moved aside, Yuugi lost all support and fell on his side. Mokuba quickly took a hold of Yuugi so he would not fall on the floor, but to his surprise, Yuugi was fully awake by the time he wrapped his arms around him. The raven-haired child blinked, mildly baffled when his friend patted his shoulder.

"Huh? Yuugi, wait, if you knew he was-"  
"He makes a soft pillow, I couldn't help but to take advantage of it." They both chuckled in amusement, but their happiness was short-lived when they realized they missed their first couple of classes. Yuugi also realized his own brother was most likely worried sick. Mokuba begged Yuugi to play the game with him some more, even if he had to go. They could have called Yami if he ever bothered to bring his phone with him. Instead of going home, he sat down next to Mokuba and picked up the console to play the game with him some more.

"Fine, but after this, I really need to talk to your brother." The younger child's eyes widened in surprise.  
"Seto? Why do you want to talk with him?"

"Because… I was unlucky." He did not exactly want to speak with Kaiba, but had to do so. Yesterday night was a vague memory to him. Was it a dream? No, of course not. He woke up next to Kaiba. If it were a dream, Kaiba would be nowhere near him. So…they actually played this game last night until they both fell asleep?

"Unlucky?" Mokuba tilted his head slightly and was now completely uninterested by the moving figures on the screen.  
"Well... You see, I don't think I can work with your brother." He smiled sheepishly and ruffled Mokuba's hair, assuring him there was nothing to worry about. However, something told Mokuba this was not right. Rather than wasting time thinking about it, he turned towards the screen and nudged Yuugi to pay attention.

* * *

Kaiba was working inside the library in their huge mansion. Normal people would have a bookshelf or stack of books they read, but he preferred to collect and read different books in different languages. One thing he hated about Gozaburo, his stepfather, was that he forced him to succeed in everything. The man used to say that knowledge earns someone respect on a great scale. In Kaiba's opinion, that was about the only truth he ever spoke. The problem was that he took it to a very dramatic and overly exaggerated degree.

The rich teen was sitting at a round table with many different books, all placed in order according to his liking. He was trying to find a solution to the coding problem he had but managed to sink into a different world, one with fictional characters and mysterious adventures. Despite what Gozaburo taught him, he enjoyed fantasy a lot, and the endless possibilities of the human mind's imagination. Even if he did not plan to read several chapters, and decided to only read one, some authors could be so captivating with their writing. The individuals could continue reading, and automatically lose themselves in a story. It was amazing, how easily sidetracked some people could get, and it was evermore surprising when it happened to someone as himself.

Once the name of a painting was mentioned in the text he slapped the book together, being reminded of something important.

"…I never called." He searched through his pockets for the note and grabbed his phone to dial the number. It did not take long for the old man to pick up and answer as politely as possible, a polite tone which Kaiba did not have time to deal with. Perhaps he was wrong? Maybe this X person changed his or her mind? Are they still drawing?

"I am greatly sorry, Kaiba. I have tried to contact the artist but he is not answering. He was probably not home by the time I called; his family did not pick up the phone either. I left a message and told him to call me back later. So you will have to remain without an answer for now." It was not like Kaiba was all that upset. Just by these few lines, he figured out some clues of who X might be. X was apparently a male, because the shop owner referred to him that way. Also, he was an artist who still lived with his family? The mention of a family had him think the artist was very young, but he could not comprehend exactly how young, since the painting looked as if it was drawn by an adult.

"That's all right," was the only answer he could give while he was trying to go over what the other man had said, again. The line suddenly got very quiet after Kaiba's reply.  
"…Uh…well…good to hear you are not disappointed."  
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly happy either, but I do realize the artist has a life. I'll call you back later tonight, let me know if anything changes." He did not even bother to wait for a reply in case the shop owner rejected his proposal. Now, the library remained as silent as it was before the call. The rich teen grinned to himself, happy to know where to start looking.

"All right, time to break into his shop and search for the number to this X."

"Are you going treasure hunting all of a sudden?" a voice replied with a slight giggle. He turned around to meet with bright Lavender eyes yet again, slightly surprised.

"Why is it that I never seem to hear footsteps when people walk behind me?"  
"I don't know. Why is it that you always get annoyed when I sit next to you?"  
"Shut up." Yuugi took hold of a chair, pulled it closer to Kaiba, then sat on it.  
"Does this annoy you?"  
"Yuugi." He gave him a stern look in seriousness, but the boy was not easily persuaded to turn silent.  
"Oh good! You remember my name!" He laughed lightly and picked up a few books from his backpack that he brought along since yesterday.

"We're supposed to do a presentation together about Anti-smoking and why smoking is bad, then have a debate against the other group with the same topic. Did you already forget the group assignment?" There was something familiar about a group assignment, but he never thought he would be in the same group with someone who was currently in his home. Kaiba closed down his software and opened a document to write in. They might as well get the entire thing over with, even without their third partner. Kaiba had not listened to the assignment at all, while Yuugi came fully prepared. This is what he was afraid of. He was afraid that Kaiba might not want to work with him, and that the mood would be awkward.

The rich teen was known for getting things his way, and setting aside any kind of teamwork. Some people just preferred to work alone, and Kaiba was just like that, it was understandable. However, if he needed a strong push to get started, Yuugi would be more than willing to push him straight over the bridge of teamwork.

After 20 minutes of work, they had about half a page of information. Yuugi had the help of books, and Kaiba was browsing the Internet. Silently, searching for statistics and sources that were reliable. It was very hard to find accurate statistics since statistics do not actually prove anything. You could make statistics say whatever you wanted, unless you reveal all information about them. It was frustrating to go through so much trouble together with someone who was technically supposed to leave several hours ago. Yuugi felt as if he was not welcome, and Kaiba could feel it too, it was perhaps time to leave. If he got stuck, he would think about the layout he needed to code, and then the fact he was stuck on that issue as well. It seemed as if he was simply trapped in everything he thought he was in control of. This assignment was the last straw.

"Why can't they suck a dick instead this crap!" He expected the young boy to question him, or show some sort of shock from the sudden shout that tore the silence apart. However, when Kaiba glanced over at Yuugi, he was pretty much writing equally as fast as he was before the shout. Ignoring proved to turn the situation even more awkward.

"What would the headline be? 'Go blow something else'?" To his surprise, Yuugi was not shocked or disturbed by the sentence, so he tried something different. Could he scare him out of his home to be left alone? It was worth a shot.

"Now that I think about it, cigarettes get nearly all the blowjobs." Did not work.  
"Nasty little deadly things." He replied once more, without even feeling embarrassed. Yuugi saw Kaiba's expression and couldn't help but to giggle.

"I live with Yami. What do you expect he is like when he does his homework? Especially during math." He stopped himself when he noticed he was actually starting a conversation about innuendos. Yuugi scratched his cheek nervously, which was tinted with a soft shade of pink, due to the sidetracking they had managed to pull off. Working with Kaiba did prove to be very difficult; since it was obvious he wanted to do other things instead of sit with a classmate he barely even knew the name of.

"Can you not finish this by yourself?" Of course that question would come up eventually, but it did not surprise Yuugi. He expected this much sooner, and came well prepared to argue with Kaiba.

"I'll answer that when you explain why you can't do it with the group."  
"Because I have a company to run."  
"You won't run it much longer if you get an F."  
"Hah, as if you would allow yourself to get an F on this assignment."  
"…Don't tempt me. I've gotten F's before, this won't faze me." Kaiba raised an eyebrow and scanned the young boy from top to bottom. He never spoke to this person, yet managed to have such a silly argument with him as if it even mattered. Now, he was being forced to do something against his will, and there was no way around it.

"…THAT is a threat." Yuugi chuckled and pointed at Kaiba's computer screen, then flicked him.  
"Now, get back to work." There was nothing much he could say to reply. He felt his hand get flicked slightly, not hurtful, but a tad disturbing. Who was this person, and why could he give Kaiba orders like these? More importantly, why did he need to follow them? The tall teen frowned and glared at Yuugi, in attempt to take the conversation seriously, but ended up acting just as childishly as the other. When you deal with a child, you need to reason like one.

"You dare flick the CEO of Kaiba Corp?"  
"Want me executed, your highness?" The thick sarcasm was practically dripping from his sentence. Kaiba let out a low chuckle. It amused him to see that Yuugi was not afraid of him. Most people would have given up and allowed him to have his way. It felt all right to admit defeat and start working along, that was, if Yuugi remained stubborn.

"You win. What do you need?" He rested his hand on the top of his computer-screen, tapping the back of it with his index finger.

"…Well, since you asked-"  
"Assignment. Be serious for one moment."  
"Yeah, but being serious is boring." The sentence made Kaiba raise a brow.  
"Are you claiming I'm boring?" Now, it was Yuugi's turn to be stumped.

"Are you claiming you're serious?" There was an awkward silence before they both realized they ran out of things to say. There was nothing much to do other than to jump straight into the assignment. After that little argument, the talking seemed to even out. If one of them had to ask the other a question, they did so straight away and did not hesitate. Kaiba tried to focus on the assignment, but his interest was still in the book he picked up to read some time earlier. It was not grammatically the best book of them all, but had an interesting story. He noticed the brief looks Yuugi was giving him whenever he appeared to be spacing out, and decided to try and focus on this assignment, even if it was a very boring one.

After some more minutes, they had gathered enough information to split the writing up into parts. They needed to argue for their position, which was not all too hard, but they had to be prepared for the other team's arguments. That was more problematic, since they had no clue what arguments the other team might come up with. They needed to be prepared for everything. If they got stuck somewhere or ended up mumbling incoherently, the teacher would notice, and think they never took the debate seriously.

After a good few minutes, of them thinking about the opposite team, Yuugi said something unexpected.

"Isn't there a movie based of that book?" It seemed to have sparked his interest since Kaiba would not stop looking over at it a few times.  
"I think there is, but books tell things in greater detail."  
"I thought you didn't have much time to waste. At least, you made that very clear yesterday night when you were speaking out loud. A movie would be quicker to watch."

For some odd reason, they had started speaking about movies, and unlike he expected; it did not bother him in the slightest. Kaiba could not understand exactly the reason to why Yuugi brought it up so randomly, but decided to reply to what he had to say. Eventually, they ended up talking about design, composition and cliché's. Things you should and should not do in movies to make them good and enjoyable to watch. It was strange. They were supposed to be debating about anti-smoking, yet, ended up debating about whether or not Avatar was a good movie. From that point on, their conversation sidetracked majorly.

"It's a story I've watched and read about a million times. Nothing special." The short teen rolled his eyes at Kaiba's statement.

"Yeah that's true, but you have to see it from an artistic point of view. The details and colors were amazing."  
"Yes, but a movie is more than just a pretty cover. It's the content that matters too."  
"You mean like the game Journey? It has nearly no content or dialogue at all, but is just full of music and art. That's a pretty amazing game, don't you agree?" He had already played through that game, and found it highly amusing even if it had no goal at all. What he enjoyed most in the game was in fact, as the other teen stated, the music. It was a relaxing game, which had no real goal to reach. The argument put forward bothered him a bit, but then made him realize where Yuugi was going with all of it. Games. His territory.

"…Are you seriously going to talk about games with ME?" The CEO leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingers against the table; proud to admit he was in charge of one of the largest, most successful, game companies. The other teen replied simply by leaning his elbows on the table with a smug smile. It did not look as if it fit, not on his petite figure, one could tell he was trying hard to prove his point. It was rather peculiar and fun at the same time.  
"That depends, do you know what you're talking about?" Who was this guy and what gave him the right to speak in such a manner, not that Kaiba did not enjoy seeing it. This was a rare occurrence. Everyone else feared of standing up to him, talking back, or even arguing. It was all because of his status, but for one reason or another, this individual did not seem to have a problem with it. That attitude was welcomed for its diversity, solely.

"You aren't just a little cocky." Was it because this person was not connected to him in any way, and had nothing to lose? That may be one of the reasons. Whatever it was, he found it enjoyable.  
"I have the right to be when I know what I'm talking about." Amethyst eyes glanced at the clock and gasped in shock. That was what cut the conversation short.  
"I-I-I was supposed to be home a long time ago! Yami is probably worried! So are the teachers!" Kaiba barely got to open his mouth before Yuugi gathered all the books and forced them down in his backpack. Was it normal to see someone so calm and collected freak out over something as simple as the time?

"I'm sorry! We have to take this another time, I really have to go, bye!" The young teen rushed out of the library and closed the door. However, it only took about a second or two for him to return and open it again.

"Ok, your mansion is huge, I'm going to need directions toward the exit." Amusing. Very amusing. Without any remorse, Kaiba left his work and got up to escort Yuugi to the exit. After all, the faster he was out of the house, the better.

* * *

Yuugi ran straight towards his grandpa's game shop, with the right keys in hand. Yami should already be home by this time, and in case that was true, very worried. Lavender eyes darted towards left and right, trying to spot anyone outside of the game shop. Not a single soul was around, perfect. He crouched to not be spotted from the windows, in case someone was in the kitchen, and silently unlocked the door.

'Oh God, I'm pathetic.' Even if those words continued repeating themselves in his head, it did not stop his actions. He took a peek inside before walking in, then closed the door. The game shop looked deserted, for the first time in a long while. Boxes were lying around messily, filled with new games and cards. Curiosity rushed through him when he realized the new Duel Monster cards were supposed to arrive today. He felt guilty for leaving his phone behind, but could not resist the temptation to see the cards before anyone else.

He looked at the box from above, wondering if this was the order or if it was another item. Yami and he usually opened new packages together, just so they could look at the cards with each other. It felt wrong to even consider looking at the cards alone. Speaking of his older brother, Yami did not seem to be around. It felt strange to Yuugi, was he not supposed to be home already?

In a split second Yuugi released a high-pitched cry and turned around in shock. The noise of a slap echoed through the game-shop as Yuugi's face flushed madly. Crimson eyes stared into deep purple orbs, demanding an answer for why he was so late. The shorter teen swallowed the last bit of his pride and decided to speak up.

"T-T-T-That is- YAMI! J-just because I come home late does not mean you get to sexually assault me!"  
"I just slapped your ass, it was a spanking."

Yuugi stepped back, but continued facing Yami, simply because he did not want the other to do the same thing again. Playing card games constantly could give one a rather strong right arm.

"Now, tell me where you were last night, and all up until now, actually." The feeling of guilt hit him. He knew he was supposed to call, but Yami was probably not going to ask about that, since he knows his younger brother forgot his phone constantly. Yuugi lowered his head and twiddled his thumbs nervously.

"I fell asleep at Mokuba's place, I told you I was going over to play games. It got out of hand, we both fell asleep late, but I think we have to deal with my-"  
"I already called you in sick. I'm happy you didn't go to school, or else I would have been caught lying for your sake." The way Yami phrased it was true, but very hurtful. Yuugi did not want him to lie for his sake; it was all a horrible accident. He never expected to fall asleep, but so he did. What made him so anxious was the fact his older brother was worried sick for him. Even if he stayed collected now, and joked around earlier with the slap, his seriousness was still visible through those dim, red eyes. If their grandpa had been home during this time, he would be very mad with them both. He would be upset with Yami for lying, and Yuugi for being careless. Good thing he was out with one of his colleagues to do some research.

"I'm sorry…I didn't really…" Yami sighed at his brother's words and wrapped his arms around Yuugi's waist, to pull him in for a hug.  
"I know, I shouldn't have yelled at you, but you had us both seriously worried." Yuugi blinked in confusion, not being able to understand whom this other person was. Another slap echoed through the game shop, and this time, it was Yami who yelped in alarm.

"JOUNOUCHI!"  
"Yams, it's not my fault ya have a slap-able flat ass. Also, ey! You don't have to use my full name!" Yami's face heated up with a dark red blush as Joey spoke. He grabbed the blond male's hair and pulled at it in annoyance, still looking flustered from what happened seconds ago. Their height difference only made it look more hysterical, as Yami had to stand on his toes to be on the same eye-level as Joey.

"I was doin' it for Yug!" His brown eyes locked onto his best friend's violet ones, giving him a thumb up. Yuugi chuckled at this and stepped back cautiously, not wanting to get involved much in their little dispute. He walked up towards his own room and shut the door tightly. The last thing he wanted was questions. Yami knew why he had been gone the entire day now, and next time, he would have to bring his phone.

Yuugi dropped his backpack down on the floor and threw himself on his bed shortly afterwards. "Ow." He raised his head and scratched his forehead in confusion, then looked down and saw his phone. It had about 15 missed calls. One name came to mind, Yami. He groaned and lied next to it. Yami was about the only one who ever called him, apart from Honda, Joey, Anzu and occasionally, Ryo. Even if he knew whom all calls were from, he decided to check them and make sure there was not a call from the teachers, or the other student from their group assignment. He thought Ryo was the third one on the team, but maybe it was someone else. As he scrolled through the latest calls, he was not surprised to find out they were all from Yami, all except one. This was more than astonishing. It left him speechless and forced him to read the number again to make sure his eyes were not tricking him.

"…I haven't seen this number in ages…" He hesitated to call them, but maybe there was some sort of problem? What if something serious had happened? Though, it had been about a year or two. What could they possibly want now? He took a deep breath and called the other person. As soon as he heard the beeping, he wanted to hang up. The fact he was going to speak to this person after such long time had passed was ridiculous. Especially by the way it all ended.

"Hello? Yuugi! I am glad you called back!" The old man sounded as cheerful as ever, almost as if he forgot why they stopped contacting each other completely. He nodded and replied with a silent 'mhm' to allow the other person to speak up. After all, Yuugi was not the one who had news; it was the individual on the other line.

"You see, there was this fellow who wanted to buy that one painting you drew a long time ago-" The minute he heard something about a painting, he wanted the conversation to end. It had been ages, why do they need to bring this up?

"You can give it to whoever wanted it for free. I don't like any of my paintings enough to sell them."  
"This man wanted to pay you around 100 000 dollars."  
"EXCUSE ME?" The amount shocked him greatly and nearly caused him to drop his phone. The next sentence coming out of the shopkeeper's mouth was not all too pleasing either.  
"That was a minimum…"  
"Oh my various Gods!" He considered the fact this could be a joke. A prank the old man would pull on him just because he did not visit the gallery any more. Though, he knew fully that this man would not be doing something alike or even call unless it was important. No matter how unreasonable it sounded, someone did want to buy his painting, now whoever that was, was irrelevant.

"You have to tell him I really can't accept that kind of money! No, wait, why am I saying this? Just give it to him. As if he would have issues with getting it for free." There was an awkward silence on the other line before murmuring was heard.

"…Why am I almost certain he would have issues taking it for free?" The old man sighed, knowing this would create a disagreement between him and Kaiba.

"Well, apart from this call, what have you been up to lately, Yuugi? Drawn anything new recently?" This was not a conversation he wanted to have, not after what happened years ago. However, what happened then was not the group's fault, or this individual's fault. Now that he was already on the phone with the shopkeeper, why not ask if he would consider receiving one more painting for the art gallery? He wanted to give this to the old man about a year or two ago for the exhibition, but never got to it, was this not a sign to go through with it?

"I have this painting from a long time ago… It's just gathering dust here in my room, so I thought-"  
"You want it next to your other painting?"  
"No…If the person really liked my painting, give that one to him as well as thanks. It's old and I don't like it." He shook his head slightly before he continued talking.  
"After all, if he liked one, he might as well like the second one. He'll be the only person who-"  
"Yuugi, my boy, stop." It did stop the young boy from continuing. He swallowed his words and waited for the old man to speak up again. Were they going to have a disagreement?  
"Is it wise to start a conversation about that, when we have not spoken to each other in such a long time?" No, there was no disagreement, and they were not about to talk about what occurred years ago. The sentence made Yuugi chuckle, he knew he was heading into unwanted territory, but the incident still bothered him greatly.

"Yeah, right. I'll tell Yami to drop the painting off at your shop. I have some work to do, so I can't come to see you personally."

The tone of voice was chirpy and clean, but they could both tell what real intentions lied behind Yami going to drop the painting off instead.  
"That is more than all right Yuugi. I understand. Well, I will be awaiting Yami's arrival then. Good day, my boy."

Once the voice on the other line vanished, Yuugi exhaled sharply and sat down on his bed, looking out the window with a tired expression. Who was the person who wanted to buy his art? Why was it worth such a huge amount of money when he was just a novice? Was a name ever mentioned in their call? Should one call back and clear things up? Maybe it was best to not bring up past memories. Then again… the past had never been forgotten. There is no way someone can forget ones mistakes when they are always on display. The young teen sighed and lied down in bed, burying his face in the pillows tiresomely. His head hurt but his chest felt warmer. Whoever this person was, had made him feel slight accomplishment from those paintings back in the past. To think they were worth something, not to mention such a large amount, made him happy. That alone was enough to warm his heart immensely.

"…I wonder if I should tell him I never really stopped drawing or painting…"


End file.
